Settlement reached between WITCC and Brazilian students over J-1 Visa program lawsuit

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — A settlement has been tentatively reached between a Siouxland college and international students who accused the college of unlawfully using a Visa program to exploit the students for labor.

According to court documents filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Iowa, Western Iowa Tech Community College (WITCC) and individuals who were working for WITCC at the time have reached a settlement with more than 10 Brazilian students. Terms of the settlement are not included in the court documents.

This lawsuit was filed on Jan. 11, 2021, and alleged that the college and other defendants unlawfully used the J-1 Visa program to exploit students for labor . They said the students were recruited to the college under promises of a two-year degree program in Culinary Arts or Robotics, free tuition, room and board, and internships.

The students were actually expected to work more than 32 hours a week at Royal Canin or at Tur-Pak Foods, work which did not relate to their field of study, the lawsuit claimed. Additionally, the students were told they would be removed from the J-1 Visa Program and sent home if they were unable to work due to being sick.

While the normal wage for the two companies were $15 per hour, the students only received $7.25 with the rest given to WITCC and J&L Staffing, documents say.

This settlement still needs to be approved and the case dismissed by the court. As of Monday, all court proceedings for WITCC and the WITCC employees have been suspended while awaiting the finalization of the settlement. The case remains open for the other defendants in the lawsuit: Premier Services as J&L Staffing, Tur-Pak Foods, Inc., and Royal Canin USA Inc.

The WITCC Board of Directors is set to meet Tuesday afternoon to vote on a settlement agreement, according to an agenda on their website . The agenda doesn’t specify that the agenda item is related to this lawsuit. The meeting is set to take place Wednesday at 3 p.m.

A similar lawsuit filed by Chilean students against the college was settled in April . The settlement among WITCC and the students was about $3 million. This lawsuit had been filed about two months earlier and made similar allegations . At the time of announcing the settlement, the college said in a statement that while they feel the program did not meet the standards set, they deny the allegations that were made against them.

Members of the community criticized the WITCC board of directors lack of transparency over the settlement, saying taxpayers deserve to know as to from where the college was getting the $3 million.

WITCC announced in March 2020 that it would end the J-1 Visa Exchange Program due to the global outbreak of COVID-19. Just two months before closing the program, students and lawyers spoke about being misled and the issues they later filed a lawsuit over . WITCC President Terry Murrell addressed the claims a day later saying the college did it’s best to provide international students with work experience and college education, but a lack of communication with students caused problems for the program.

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